Shadows of the Future
by Nehszriah
Summary: AZ LG as usual The Slayers gang get flung twentyfive years into the future! Now they have to help three mysterious teens slay a mazoku before he goes back in time and destroys their future! Read and review please!
1. Ichi

Here is a new Slayer fanfiction! Yayness! This is to be a multi-chapter that will really get going once I finish Olympians At Heart. I do not own Slayers, the characters or anything else like that. Just my OCs. Please read and review! I might not update this for a bit.

* * *

**Shadows of the Future**

Ichi

They thought it would be like any other day when they woke up in their forest camp. Items on the agenda: pack up camp, wail on some bandits, eat, wander, unwittingly become champions of justice at Amelia's expense, eat, become annoyed with Xellos for the fifth time that week (it was only a Tuesday), eat some more; just an ordinary day for the Slayers gang was planned. Yet that nice sunny day in late spring would be different. That day would be more different than the four of them could have even imagined...

**80808080808080808**

"Aaaahh..." Amelia yawned happily as she and her friends walked down a wooded path in the forest. "What a beautiful day! Don't you agree with me Zelgadis-san?"

"Hmm?" the chimera answered. He had been staring off into space, not really paying any attention to anything other than the road.

"Lina-san? Gourry-san? Isn't today perfect?"

"Sure Amelia. Whatever," Lina replied.

"I think so!" Gourry said happily. "The sky is so blue and the breeze is nice and cool. Have you ever seen such a perfect day Lina?"

Lina just glared at the blond swordsman, wondering where she went wrong. Yeah, she liked Gourry enough and she did enjoy the fact that he was a loyal and strong traveling companion, but he was just very childish at times. It was always him and the Princess, constantly being happy and cheerful while Lina and Zelgadis were content with being shrewd and cynical.

"When are we going to get to a town?" Zelgadis moaned. "I want to find information on that damned Bible..."

"Oh, don't worry Zelgadis-san," Amelia smiled. "We'll be there in no time! Then you can research the Claire Bible all you want!"

"We're almost there? That's good, because I'm really hungry!" Gourry piped in. He chuckled a bit, but then stopped clear in the middle of the road, looking ahead with a blank look on his face.

"What is it?" Lina asked. "What are you staring at?" She prepped herself for some fireballs and Zelgadis and Amelia each tensed for Ratills.

"Us," he said softly. He pointed straight ahead and sure enough, it appeared that there was the four of them standing just up the road talking to one another.

"What the...?" Zelgadis whispered. He squinted to make sure he was not seeing things. "Is that... us up there?"

"Sure looks like it," Amelia replied. Certainly enough, the Lina up the road let off a fireball, blasting the other Gourry.

"Yup, that's Lina alright," Gourry said calmly.

"Why I ought to..." Lina started, but before she could even think about casting a fireball, the ground beneath the four friends suddenly opened and swallowed them up, casting them into a swirling abyss of color.

"The hell...?" Zelgadis said. "Where are we?"

"I remember!" Lina said. She looked around, suddenly remembering everything. It was the time stream. She went through this before, except to go back in time to defeat a monster, not randomly like this. "No, really! This is the time stream! I've been here before, trying to help some midget named Rowdy."

"Sure Lina," Gourry scoffed as they all seemed to fall. "Just another one of your crazy stories again, huh? How many times are we going to hear about the blue-haired midget?"

"No! It's true you jellyfish!" Lina yelled. She would have insisted some more, but the abrupt impact of herself onto hard ground stopped her.

"Ow!" Amelia whined. "That hurt!"

"It worked!" a voice yelled excitedly.

"Who's there?" Gourry demanded, instinctively drawing his sword and bracing for a fight. The room they were in was poorly lit compared to the outside sun they just came out of.

"Hey, there is no need to be hostile," the voice said again. An oil lamp was turned on and it was revealed in the light that the owner of the voice was just a teenage boy. He was average height and had fire-red hair that he kept down to his shoulders. He was dressed in blue and green, complimenting his mismatched eyes of the same colors. A sword lay at his hip and a cunning smile was spread across his face.

"What is your name?" Gourry asked, still trying to be on his guard.

"Albert Orme," the teen said casually. "You are Gourry Gabriev, Lina Inverse, Zelgadis Graywords and Amelia del Seiryuun, right?"

"How did you know that?" Zelgadis questioned brusquely, stepping in front of Amelia, who was still sitting on the floor.

"Easy, because I summoned you."

"Now don't take all the credit you octopus," a sweet female's voice interrupted sharply.

Everyone's attention snapped in the direction of the shadows where two figures came out of the darkness. One was a teenage girl with beautiful black hair that reached her waist, sparkling blue eyes and wore a shirt, pants and cape outfit that was a light pink and white color. The teenage boy next to her appeared to be her elder brother with his hair also dark as the night sky and eyes that were nearly sapphires. He wore a cloak of black over an outfit of scarlet and a sword and it made the gang from the past gasp when they saw his face. From just above his left brow down to his neck, half of his face was a hard stony grey, just like Zelgadis's entire body was.

"Let me introduce you to my associates: Bianca and Cullen Ganymeade," Albert said proudly. "They helped me summon you all here to this time."

"This is all fine and dandy, but why in the hell are we here?" Lina yelled.

"To help us defeat the mazoku before it is too late," Cullen said with disdain. His voice was deep and it carried throughout the small-seeming room easily.

"What mazoku?" Amelia asked.

"One that is going to go into the past and destroy everything!" Bianca cried. "His name is Koronus and he is set to go into the past in a week! We have to find him!"

"How do you know that?" Zelgadis hissed.

"We know because it is said that you four were once some of the greatest fighters in the entire world," Albert said solemnly. He put down the oil lamp on a table and sighed as he leaned against the wall. "Twenty-five years ago, when Koronus first appeared in the past, he came upon you and fought. He won, yet all four of you escaped with your lives and Koronus started his rampage across the lands. It was only right for us to take you from right before Koronus first appeared all those years ago and have you fight him in this time with us."

"What difference would that make?" Lina asked suspiciously. "If we could not defeat him back in the time we just came from, then what makes you think that we can defeat him in this time?"

"If the eight of us fight together, then we will have enough power to defeat Koronus and he will never get the chance to go back to the past. The past will be spared and the future will be set right again," Cullen said grimly. He walked over to stand next to Albert. With doing so, it was shown that Albert was shorter than him by a few inches at the least and him doing so seemed to get on Albert's nerves.

"How do you know that Koronus will go back in time a week from now?" Zelgadis asked.

"Because... because our parents told us," Albert said, pausing for a second as if he were trying to decide on if that was what he was going to say.

"So what we have to do is fight this Koronus thing, save our past and everything will go back to the way it all should be?" Gourry asked, finally lowering his sword.

"Yes," Bianca replied.

"We're in!" Lina said happily. Her three companions, however, pulled her aside and she was smacked on the back of her head by Zelgadis.

"You idiot!" he whispered. "I don't trust them, they seem suspicious to me."

"Everything seems suspicious to you Zelgadis," Gourry noted.

"Zelgadis-san," Amelia added. "I do not think that they are bad people. Look at the one guy! He has half a stone face! You are stone. You are a nice person..."

"Didn't I actually try to kill all of you a few times?" Zelgadis reminded her. Amelia shut up and looked sheepishly at the ground.

"That doesn't matter," Lina said. "We're stuck until they send us back and we either cooperate or fight by force. Besides, I feel at peace dealing with them, as if I have met them before. So, who's in then?"

With a defeated moan from Zelgadis, all three of her friends raised their hands.

"Right then!" Lina said, taking a big step out of the little circle and over towards Albert, Cullen and Bianca. "We will help you out."

"Great!" Bianca said happily. She then brought her voice down to a low whisper. "We have to bring you to safe quarters then to rest up."

"Why? Isn't this place safe?" Gourry asked, looking around the bare room. The walls seemed cracked and crumbling and there was dirt and summoning compounds littered everywhere.

"No, this is just a good space for the three of us to summon you," Albert said. "We have taken to living in the palace above ground."

"A palace?" Lina asked.

"Yeah. It is abandoned and in horrible shape, but we live there," Bianca sadly said. "Come on, let's go." She blew out the oil lamp and cast a light spell that caused a green speck of flame seem to float in her hand. Walking over to a door, she opened it and walked out. Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis followed with Albert and Cullen taking up the rear. Once they came to a trap door, Bianca muttered yet another incantation and the door slowly opened, revealing that the midday sun was blocked out by thick rain clouds. There was no rain coming down, but there were huge puddles all over as everyone stepped out into the open, as if there was a break in the storm.

"Where are we?" Zelgadis asked as he started to look around. Albert opened his mouth to answer the chimera, yet was cut off by some loud and violent noise.

"ALBERT ORME!" a voice boomed. Spinning around, the gang found themselves face-to-face with a giant green monster. It was thin and reptilian, nearly like a snake with legs.

"Stand back you guys!" Gourry and Albert said simultaneously, drawing their swords at the exact same time as well.

"Look at what we have here," the monster sneered. "Ready to meet your doom with new friends are we?"

"Never shall I fall to the likes of you!" Albert yelled valiantly. He went to go and charge the monster, yet tripped over himself and fell flat on his face.

"Are you okay Albert-kun?" Bianca asked with a worried voice as she went to help her friend to get up back on his feet. Albert blushed. Lina let out an exasperated sigh. Amelia and Gourry simply looked at Albert's bright red face oddly. Cullen stood in the back of their group, brooding and watching his sister's moves with a closely protective glare. Zelgadis just burst ahead of the whole group and slightly laughed.

"Heh. RATILL!" he shouted with a small snicker. He disintegrated the monster in an instant, leaving nothing in its place.

"You didn't have to do that," Albert said, crushed that he did not get to fight the monster. Zelgadis just laughed inside, knowing that he had burst the kid's bubble.

"Well, this just means that you are at the right level of skill in order to help us," Cullen interjected. "The more power you have, the more likely it will be that we shall defeat Koronus."

"Why? How powerful was that monster?" Zelgadis inquired.

"Very powerful," Cullen answered. "Much more powerful than most of the other mazokus around here."

"Hey Amelia," Lina said, looking over at the princess as she stood frozen in her place. "What's going on?" Amelia just did not move. She felt she could not move. Such a thing was impossible.

"Bianca," Amelia whispered. "Where are we?"

"Seiryuun," Bianca replied. "Why do you ask?"

Everyone looked over in the direction of Amelia's gaze and their jaws just dropped open.

There before them in complete ruins, lay the Seiryuun Royal Palace.

* * *

**Things To Know**

Orme: It is some prefix having to deal with dragons.

Albert: Some British name.

Cullen: Middle name of William Cullen Bryant, author of Thanatopsis (which is an excellent death poem if I do say so myself.)

Bianca: A name.

Ganymeade: Chosen because it was there. I think it is a Shakespeare character.

The Blue-Haired Midget: Rowdy, Gourry ancestor (in my mind at least) whom Lina went back in time to help.

My Storyline: Based generally off of the Slayers Motion Picture with the time traveling mazoku thing.


	2. Ni

The Nehszriah has become obsessed with this story line... so here we go! Chapter the Second! Prepare to get some emotions out of Amelia. She's going to get to explore her emo side today. The Nehszriah does not own the Slayers anime, manga or their characters in any way, shape or from, except some old tapes.

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Ni

"No..." Amelia whispered. "No. No. No. No! NO!" She started to sob loudly as she fell to the ground in painful sadness.

"Amelia," Gourry said softly. "Please, don't cry." He only got tears in response.

"How long have you three been living here?" Lina asked Albert.

"About six months," he replied. "Everything was like this when we got here. Cullen, Bianca and I had wandered all across different countries before coming here, so having a permanent home is a bit new for us."

"Oh, what kind of cruel, heartless being could do such a thing?" Amelia sobbed. "My father and I are champions of justice, ready to take down any monster we come across... but why is everything gone?"

"Please stop crying Amelia," Gourry pleaded. He really was uncomfortable with her bawling like she was.

"No... this can't be happening!" Amelia sobbed. She ran up to her former home, tears streaming from her face. She did not want to see the destruction, yet could not help but to see what had happened.

"Wait! Amelia!" Zelgadis shouted as she got to the steps. "Don't go in there!" He grabbed onto her arm to stop her from entering the crumbling building.

"Let me go Zelgadis-san!" Amelia cried. "I can go in! Albert-san said they lived there!"

"There was a mazoku out here!" he snapped, forcefully drawing her inwards so that she faced him. The cold strictness that emanated from Zelgadis's eyes scared Amelia. It was not even like Zelgadis. "There could be another mazoku in there. You have to be careful!" he said.

"Oh, let her go Zelgadis," Lina said. She walked calmly past them and into the royal palace, slamming the large oaken doors open magically, not even looking up from the ground. After giving Lina her space, everyone else followed in their own time.

It was amazing to see the carnage that had happened after years of neglect ravaged the once-proud palace. The hallways were torn to shreds and devoid of all life. Rooms that once were bight and cheerful were now covered in dreary dust and debris. The whole thing was appalling.

_I wonder what happened to Prince Phil and Amelia in all of this_, Lina wondered to herself. _Neither of them would just pick up and leave the palace unless absolutely necessary. If needed, they would stay and fight until the bitter end. It must have been quite the mazoku to drive them off..._

Suddenly, Lina's inner questions were answered as they came upon the Great Ballroom. It was a very large room, larger than a good part of the palace at least. A gaping opening in the ceiling caused rain to fall upon a ghastly scene even worse than any member of the group could have ever imagined. There, still in their armor, were piles of bleached skeletons. Dressed in traditional battle armor from Seiryuun, they were heaped in hills of up to ten feet in height.

"What happened?" Gourry asked, amazed at how many remains were left behind.

"It was a last-chance effort made by the men of Seiryuun years ago to defend their country from Koronus," Cullen answered, stepping out from the shadows like a phantom. "Every man from about sixteen and older lost their lives in the melee. Peasants, middle-class, nobility... they all made the ultimate sacrifice."

"Stop it Cullen," Zelgadis snarled. Cullen looked over to see that Amelia had decided to bury her face into Zelgadis's chest as she painfully cried for her people.

"Oh, why doesn't she stop it?" Cullen snapped angrily. "If we succeed, then this is not what shall happen with these men. Your tears are wasted." His eyes glared at Amelia and Zelgadis coldly, as if trying to kill them with only his eyes.

"Shut up!" Amelia yelled out. She pushed herself away from Zelgadis and concentrated her teary eyes on Cullen. "Elmekia Lance!"

As fast as Amelia could cast her spell, Cullen was able to dodge it. The spear of light flew past his black hair and over towards the human destruction in the center of the room, where it bounced off some invisible wall.

"What was that?" Lina asked, perplexed at the sight of Amelia's lance bouncing off of nothing.

"There is some sort of force field preventing anything but weather from getting into the rest of the room," Albert answered. "None of us have been able to get to the bodies so we could bury them."

"Who in the hell taught you three magic?" Lina laughed. She went up to the very edge of the force field and put her hands out as if she were pushing on a large rock. "ZAKER!" Lina's incantation sent an electric surge throughout the force field, disabling it and sending electricity up and out of the roof's hole and into the clouds.

"How did you do that?" Bianca asked in awe.

"Easy stuff," Lina said, acting all cocky and letting her ego surge. "I'm just surprised that you guys did not know it, unless you have been learning magic freelance."

"Actually, we learned it from our mothers," Albert answered defensively.

"That is a bit odd," Lina said. "Did they teach you guys just basics or something?"

"No, we really were taught some advanced stuff," Bianca said. "Albert-kun doesn't have much talent and our mothers died before Cullen-kun or I could really grasp anything too powerful from their teachings. Since then we have been doing magic research on our own."

"Hey! No fair!" Albert whined. "I do too have magic abilities!"

"No you don't you octopus-brain," Bianca came back. She and Albert glared at each other fiercely.

"Hey Lina," Gourry asked as he carefully stepped into the former boundaries of the force field. "How did you know what spell to use to let us in?"

"It was a certain mazoku spell used to leave monuments," Lina said. "Some of the monuments that have been preserved by mazoku magic are good, such as sculptures in rocks or ocean coasts. This is obviously a reminder to all those who faced Koronus after Seiryuun that he is not to be messed with. He allowed the weather to seep through the magical barrier so that the decaying corpses could become skeletons quicker than normally."

"That is just sick," Gourry commented. Suddenly, a growling noise came from his stomach. "Lina, I'm hungry."

"What!" Lina snipped. "You are hungry at now of all times?"

"Yes."

"I know where the kitchens are!" Albert piped in. He ran off with Gourry willingly following at his heels.

"Ah, great," Lina sighed as she went to go and pick up a very expensive-looking sword from the hilt of one of the dead soldiers.

"Lina-san," Amelia sniffled. "Please, do not touch them. Let them be."

"If you say so Princess," Lina said, putting her hands up over her head to show that she had taken nothing. She and the others decided to follow Gourry and Albert, who of course had gotten lost and ended up in the overgrown garden instead of the kitchens.

**80808080808080808**

"So, where do you guys all come from?" Lina asked. She and the others were in the kitchens of the palace, eating some thin soup that Bianca had made. Albert looked up from his bowl and over at Lina warily.

"Why do you ask?" he replied.

"Well, I kind of wanted to know a little bit about the people that I am helping," she said.

"For your information, we have no homeland," Cullen snapped from the very end of the table. "My sister and I, as well as Albert, were born wherever our parents happened to be. We never had the luxury of a permanent home before we found this place all dilapidated and abandoned." After slamming his empty bowl on the wooden table, he stormed off into the hall.

"I am sorry," Bianca apologized. "My brother is really not comfortable talking to people. I really wish that he would have been kinder."

"No," Lina said. "I should have not said anything."

"It is alright," Bianca said. "Besides, we know relatively little about our parents. They died years ago in separate attacks from Koronus."

"That must have been awful," Amelia commented. She had calmed down by this time and was now dry-eyed.

"Not really. At least, not now. A few more years with my mother would have been nice," Bianca said.

"Yeah," Albert said through some soup. "My dad still needed to teach me some sword techniques before he left."

"Left?" Zelgadis asked curiously. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean," Albert said after swallowing. "My father left my mother and me to fight Koronus and so that it was harder to find the three of us. He died some time around my ninth summer."

"I'm sorry," Zelgadis said, darting his eyes to his soup.

"Ah, I'm used to the fact by now," Albert said nonchalantly.

"What do you guys remember about your parents, since you are clearly fine with talking about them?" Lina asked.

"Little," Bianca replied. "Some of what I know is because Cullen-kun told me. I remember that my mother was very beautiful and kind and very brave. My father, according to Cullen-kun, was very brave and always was trying to protect us all. He left us about when I was six, two years before Albert-kun's father left. When my mother was just about to die, she said that she and my father were royalty before Koronus came and destroyed everything."

"She said that you and your older brother should have been royalty?" Amelia gasped.

"Yeah. Royalty from some far away kingdom. That was all Cullen-kun or I could get out of her."

"What about your parents Albert?" Gourry asked. Albert looked up from his soup nervously, as if he really did not want the attention shifted to himself.

"My parents were always fighting," he said softly. "They loved each other and they loved me, yet they always seemed to find something to argue about. That is it mainly. When my father left for our protection and died, my mother seemed to become really depressed. It had become truly apparent that she was in love with my father, even though they fought. They could hold week long grudges over the last piece of chicken and not make up until both forgot what they were fighting about. Stupid really."

"At least they did love you, as well as one another," Amelia said. "Some people do not have that."

"Yeah. I guess it was alright as long as they made up," Albert agreed.

"How would you know that Amelia?" Lina asked. "You had both parents growing up until your mother passed away. They both loved you and from what you've said, they never fought or anything like that."

"I just know that, alright?" Amelia answered defensively.

"Can we get on to a different subject?" Zelgadis asked out of the blue. Everyone else agreed that the current topic was a bit too sad.

"We should all get some rest," Albert suggested, standing up and stretching.

"Good idea," Lina agreed.

"Come on then, follow me," Bianca said. Lina and Amelia willingly followed and Bianca led them out into the eerie corridors. "Stick close. I do not know how much twenty-five years has changed the scenery in here. You could get lost."

"Thank you Bianca-san," Amelia said softly as she looked around the hall the three of them were in.

"No problem," Bianca replied. "Oh, and please do not cast any lighting spells, otherwise we could be caught by passing mazoku spies."

"The mazoku will find us whether we have a light or not," Lina said casually. Bianca just stopped in her tracks.

"It will be harder for them to find us!" she hissed.

"Fine, fine, have it your way," Lina sighed. She was silent the whole rest of the way to the room, even though it was very hard to be.

"This is where the three of us are going to sleep tonight," Bianca explained when she came to a stop. She pointed to one of the nearby doors that was still on its hinges and she led Lina and Amelia inside.

"Oh my God..." Amelia gasped. It was her bedroom. Nearly every bit of detail that she could remember was thrown out of whack. As if an earthquake had rocked Seiryuun, the bookshelves were toppled over, her bed on the other side of the room, the drapes and furniture all torn up and destroyed. It was positively horrid. This was supposed to be her space and it had been cruelly demolished when the mazoku Koronus came and destroyed everything, including those poor soldiers.

"Bianca," Lina whispered. Bianca came over to the wary Lina, who was watching Amelia's shocked expression.

"What is it Lina-chan?" Bianca asked as she came over to Lina's side.

"Why did you pick this room?" Lina hissed quietly. "This was her bedroom! It was bad enough she saw the ballroom!"

"I'm sorry Lina-chan," Bianca whispered back. "I had no idea."

"Fine then," Lina said loudly. "Let us fix this place up so that we can sleep!" She went over to an upset sofa and put it upright. She did the same to a chair and then put blankets over both pieces of furniture. With a deep sigh, she fell into the chair and looked over at the speechless Amelia and Bianca. "Well, are you two going to sleep?"

"Oh, yes," Amelia said softly as she went and laid down on the blanket-covered sofa. Bianca took the bed and soon all three girls were asleep, dreaming about what the next day would bring.

* * *

**Review Replying (In Order of Review Time)**

Niele-Mzk: Thanks for the insight of Jupiter's moons and paradoxes. Also, yes, chimeras are supposed to be gloomy. That is just a requirement. They are stone-emotioned! Made of rock! At least the ones that we encounter are. -grins-

cyberimp6: I am too uninformed with the whole incantation thing to write out the entire rant. Eight characters? Who told you? Oh, shoot. Yeah, I guess there is another character! I was going to make it a surprise, but I'm horrible. Bryant. Go Bryant! Wh00t! My classmate told me I was nutters for naming Cullen... Cullen, but what the hey!

Gerao-A: Ah, my faithful Portuguese reviewer-buddies. -glomp- Thanks for coming by. Albert, Cullen and Bianca will make themselves useful in time and you have just read the reason for the destruction of Seiryuun. You will see everything in due time my friends.

* * *

**Things To Know**

The carnage: Yes, I made them all skeletons! -timidly- Please don't kill me.

"Zaker": This is actually a spell from the anime Zatch Bell, which I also am not owning.


	3. San

Yay! More story! -grins- Many apologies for being a bad updater, but there are... things over on this end of the interweb that are quite annoying. This story has consumed Olympians At Heart's attention. Read it...

* * *

San

Amelia could not sleep. No matter how much she tossed and turned on her little sofa, she could not stop thinking about the palace and the freighting future that she was in. Everything was just such a shock to her that it was amazing that she had not fainted earlier that day. The future was way too sad. It was very, very saddening indeed.

Sighing sadly, Amelia took in the sounds of the night. The could hear cicadas outside in the wet garden, the familiar stride of Zelgadis walking in the hall as he made his nightly watch guard rounds out of pure paranoia, Lina's snores, the distant thunderstorm that had passed over and brought along more rain that had by that time passed. Everything made Amelia shudder. It was just so bleak around her that she did not know what to do.

_Princess_...

"Who's there?" Amelia asked, sitting upright on the sofa. There was no one, though she could have sworn that she had heard a strange voice.

_Amelia_...

"This is not very funny Lina-san," Amelia squeaked. Then she realized that it could not possibly be Lina, for Lina was there in front of her, sleeping loudly on an oversized chair. Bianca was immediately ruled out as well, being sprawled out on the large bed by herself. Gathering all the courage she could muster, Amelia got up and went to go into the corridor to investigate the origin of the mystery sound.

Carefully, Amelia walked out into the hallway and looked around. No sign of Zelgadis or Gourry in the area. Not even Albert or Cullen.

_Our Highness_...

As quickly as she could, Amelia spun around and looked behind her. Empty hallway greeted her. If she did not realize all of the crumbling architecture around her, Amelia would have surely thought of this as a dream.

A dream, or a nightmare at the very least.

_Our Princess_

Sprinting down the corridor, Amelia followed the source of the voice. It was thin and raspy, as if it never even was there or did not belong to a human being. As she ran down the network of halls, the hoarse whispering became louder and more abundant until Amelia could hear many different voices at the same time, just repeating her name and who she was. It was everything she had to keep on going.

Then, coming to an abrupt stop, Amelia suddenly realized what she had heard.

Amelia walked into the dark ballroom and shuddered. It was the bones of her countrymen that were calling out to her, crying out from every which way that she could think of. Stepping into the maze of skeletons, armor and weapons, she shivered in the cold night air that the earlier rainstorms had left behind.

It was disturbing for Amelia, walking through the gauntlet of her fallen subjects. Cullen's words from earlier still rung in her mind.

'_If we succeed, then this is not what shall happen with these men. Your tears are wasted.'_

_My tears are not wasted_, she thought. _Someone needs to mourn these mens' souls. They died for Seiryuun and that was one of the most noble sacrifices any could make._

Tears ran down Amelia's face as she continued on. Thoughts raced through her mind about the soldiers' families, how they never met with each other again. Every skeleton had a life to live and the mazoku Koronus took it away. The most heart-wrenching part was that not all of the men who lost their lives were soldiers. Amelia knew that there was never nearly enough soldiers to create such a battlefield, so it must have meant that normal citizens took up their family crests and swords to fight. Cullen was at least right that elderly men and older teens could have been no exception. The entire male population of Seiryuun was probably strewn across the floor. The very idea was so horrid that she almost did not see her absolute worst nightmare.

"Daddy?"

Over in the corner, there was the familiar crest of her father's family on a breastplate filled with ivory bones and devilish air. Amelia ran over to it, discovering Prince Phil's knife, sword and other battle accessories with the corpse. It was hard not to cry. It was like when she had thought an assassin killed her father that one time, when it was really Prince Phil protecting his people and Amelia from harm and he was actually quite fine.

Amelia did not know how long she sat there and cried over her father's empty suit of armor. She did know that she had cried so much that she could barely see when she finally stood up to leave, deciding that it was too painful to stay any longer. When she turned, she ran into something that turned her face even paler than before.

There, in front of her, was Zelgadis.

No, not Zelgadis standing there, waiting for her to be done crying over Prince Phil's body, but Zelgadis truly as a statue. He was down on one knee, hands out as if casting a Ratill spell. Seiryuun battle armor covered the majority his stony grey body and stayed even though the cloth on his exposed forearms and shoulders had rotted away long ago. Upon closer inspection, Amelia found that the weather took away his eyes, leaving him hollow on the inside. His granite brow left behind an impression of severe concentration and pain. Stepping back a pace, Amelia saw that the hollow Zelgadis appeared to have been protecting her father in his final moments. The scene, when all taken in, was just overwhelming beyond belief.

"Oh, Zelgadis-san," Amelia sobbed. She went up to the stone shell's neck and put her arms around the cold stone remains and cried.

"You should not be here," a familiar voice said. Amelia turned her head and saw though blurry eyes...

"Zelgadis-san?"

"No. It is Cullen."

"Cullen-san? What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" he retorted. "You were the one that said to leave these remains alone. Why are you not doing so?"

"I just wanted to see what had happened. These were my people," Amelia replied. She wiped the tears from her eyes and saw that Cullen's half-stone face shone brilliantly in the wan moonlight.

"This is not to be their fate," Cullen said with a grim air to his voice. "This is just a reality that is to be erased with your help. These skeletons will have lives and families and their futures once again restored when we destroy Koronus."

"Here thought, they do not have their life," Amelia said, regaining her composure. "What in the world caused you to be so cynical?"

"Life, that is what," Cullen answered. "I have had to take care of my sister and Albert for six years already. Becoming an adult at the age of twelve does things to the mind."

"That does not mean that you have to be so rude!" Amelia said. "These men fought with everything they had! Can't you at least recognize that they were willing to make such a sacrifice?"

"No. They will not have to, I told you that."

"Yes, they did!"

"Leave it alone Princess," Cullen said with a sneer.

"You are so mean!" Amelia yelled. Reacting without a thought, Cullen grabbed her arm and stared Amelia down with a very mean look upon his face.

"Shut up," he hissed. "I do not want you to cry any longer over that which will never become. You should know better."

Amelia's reaction, of course, was quite the forceful slap across the face.

"I think you should know better than to take a champion of justice such as myself and tell them what to do and what not to do!" she retorted. Amelia shoved Cullen away forcefully, running off as soon as she was free.

_Cullen-san_, she thought. _Why do you act like an enemy of justice when you are supposed to be on the side of the good? _Amelia began to walk once she got to the cold garden terrace. The various plants and shrubs were all overgrown, yet still beautiful.

"Oh, Daddy... Zelgadis-san," Amelia cried as she walked through the ghostly garden. Shadows flickered on the ground from the moonlight, creating an eerie effect for what was once a wonderful and romantic place.

"What is wrong Amelia?"

Amelia turned around to see Zelgadis standing there in the garden, his face covered in a shadow. She turned around with dread and cried, kneeling down so that she was resting her arms on a stone bench.

"Why won't my mind stop playing tricks on me?" she cried, burying her face in her arms.

"What are you talking about Amelia?" Zelgadis asked as he walked over to her.

"It... It is Cullen-san..." she said softly as the chimera carefully approached.

"What did he do?" Zelgadis asked, a hint of protective rage in his voice.

"It was just like earlier, when he said that my tears were wasted on those men in the ballroom," Amelia cried. "Well, I couldn't sleep and ended up following some voices to the piles of bones in the ballroom and when I walked around..."

"Amelia, you shouldn't have..."

"They wanted me to see!" Amelia interjected. "I could hear the voices calling to me! Daddy was there and so were you!"

"Me? In that pile of bones? How would you know?"

"It was what was left of your chimera body," she whispered through her tears. She stood up and went over to Zelgadis so that she was within an arm's length. "Daddy's armor was behind you, as if you were trying to protect him from harm."

"Why would I ever have to protect your father?" Zelgadis asked in a comforting manner. "The man is too headstrong and driven to ever need protection, for he is the one who does the guardian duties most of the time."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Yes, but..."

"Then come and see for yourself!"

Amelia took Zelgadis by the hand and led him through the corridors to the ballroom. Once there, she showed Zelgadis the scene where Cullen had just chased her away from. When Zelgadis first saw the hollowed version of himself protecting Prince Phil's battle armor, he was speechless.

"See?" Amelia said. "Now do you believe me?"

_Holy crap_, Zelgadis thought. _Amelia was right. What in the nine hells made me do this? Prince Phil is an alright guy and all... but why am I here protecting him? Even better, protecting him dressed in Seiryuun battle armor? I simply cannot imagine what could have made me ever come to this. It must have been something very important..._

Zelgadis looked over at Amelia. She was looking at her father's empty armor, wrought with sorrow. Poor Amelia should never have had to see anything like this in her life. For being a beautiful and harmless girl, her life was just filled with horrible things. Her mother died, her only sister ran away, one of her favorite cousins died and she nearly thought her father was dead. Yet the only positive thing about all of this dreadful stuff in the future was that once they defeated Koronus, none of this horror would ever come true and hurt Amelia.

"What do you two think you are doing?" Lina's voice called faintly. Amelia and Zelgadis looked behind them to see Lina and Gourry running over towards them.

"Lina-san, what are you and Gourry-san doing over here?" Amelia asked.

"Both of us... woke up... panicked when you both... were not there..." Gourry answered between gasps of air. "What's... going on?"

Without warning, Gourry, who was still very much asleep from when Lina woke him up to form the search party, fell over into the future-dead-Zelgadis-shell-thing and toppled it over. The impact of granite with the cold marble floor caused a horrible crash. It was a very good thing that Gourry had fallen asleep, for the shell broke into many tiny pieces and scattered all over the floor.

Amelia screamed in freight.

Zelgadis cringed at the sight of himself bursting upon the floor.

Lina... just got annoyed.

"Baka jellyfish-brained man..." she muttered under her breath. "Doesn't even know how to stay awake. What a moron..." With that, Lina grumped off, wanting to catch a few hours more sleep.

"Amelia," Zelgadis said, eyeing his busted remains on the floor in front of him. "I think we both should go back to bed as well."

"...but what about Gourry-san?"

"We'll leave him be. If he wakes up to look my dead face in the eye, then that is his own fault," Zelgadis said as he stepped away from the slumbering swordsman. Amelia followed and neither of them did not stop running until each was back in their respective rooms, Amelia greeted with Lina's snores and with an empty room.

* * *

**Review Replies (In Order of Review Time)**

Gerao-A: You think you know my story line, huh? Well... odds are that you guys are right. The characters, however, are dense until further notice. Remind you of someone? Hmm... Maybe he is supposed to... you never know what the Nehszriah is up to. -grins devilishly-

**Things To Know**

The horror aspect: I have been studying the horror genre in Creative Writing. What does everyone think? Is it good? Please inform me whether you think either way. Danke. Arigato. Obrigado. Gracias. All that junk.


	4. Shi

I do not own Slayers, even though I wished I did desperately. -goes off to sob- I am sorry for not updating as quickly as I should have. I was determined to finish _Olympians At Heart _and now have another sports-themed story on the drawing board, as well as a fairytale spoof near completion. There is no end in sight for me.

* * *

Shi

It was morning and everyone sans Albert was assembled in the kitchen. Earlier, Gourry had woken up in a state of shock, discovering he was laying in the rubble of a busted-up Zelgadis-shell and still continued to shake and jump when he looked at his chimera friend. Amelia and Zelgadis themselves were both quite sleepy from not being able to rest and Lina was just itching to get some answers out of the three teens that summoned her to this time. She was really perturbed when she had come in, only to find that Albert was not present. She wanted to interrogate him and both the Ganymeade siblings all at the same time. They seemed suspicious to her...

"Where in the hell is she!" Cullen barked as he paced around the room.

"Calm down Brother," Bianca said gently as she took her seat next to Amelia.

"Who are we waiting for anyways?" Lina asked, distrust for Cullen crawling in her voice.

"Remember yesterday, how I said that the _eight _of us will defeat Koronus?"

"Yeah!" Gourry piped in. "Why do you say that?"

"There is only seven of us here you jellyfish-brain," Lina sighed. "Cullen, can I get a name or something? I mean..."

"Aha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" a loud, screeching voice laughed, cutting off Lina suddenly. Her entire body shivered in fear as the mental image of the voice's owner flashed through her brain.

"N-N-Naga...?" she stuttered as she slowly turned around. Sure enough, in the doorway, stood what appeared to be an exact clone of Naga the Serpent in all of her inflated, egotistical glory. She did not appear a day older than when Lina and Naga split up on their travels.

"Who are you?" Zelgadis asked blandly, clearly unimpressed. The woman flipped back her ebony hair and laughed again.

"I am Eudora the Fire Serpent!" the young woman cackled. "I, accompanied by my trusty canine companion, travel the world, searching for the perfect hot-spring that my mother dedicated her life to finding!" She struck a heroic pose as she basked in the beauty of her own words. Zelgadis, Amelia and Gourry were perplexed at the sight of this person. She wore skimpy clothes, a cape, skull jewelry and one of the most smug expressions on her face ever. The three of them could not help but to wonder... _Why?_

Lina knew the answer though... this was the spawn of one of the most annoying creatures that she had ever met in the entire world. She had traveled with Naga for a time and was now solidly convinced that Eudora was Naga's daughter. Standing there in shell-shock, Lina became so convinced of Eudora's parentage that she fainted out of pure shock.

"Lina!" Gourry cried out as he rushed over to her side.

"It is alright!" Eudora said haughtily. "My presence does this sort of thing to people. Tragic, isn't it?"

"What's tragic is her vanity," Zelgadis muttered under his breath. Amelia nudged him lightly and mouthed something that looked like '_Be nice_'.

"Eudora! Where in the nine hells have you been?" Cullen snapped angrily as she walked in. She dragged a little, white dog behind her on a leash that was so pathetic and sad-looking in appearance, that it seemed to be years past its expiration date. The poor thing plopped down on the floor next to the chair Eudora took away from Bianca as she sat down and put her feet up on the tabletop.

"Not here," Eudora casually sighed.

"Obviously!" Cullen spat.

"Why? Did you want me to be here for the blasts-from-the-pasts's arrival?"

"You have the tendency to be late to everything," Cullen said angrily, folding his arms and turning away from Eudora in an attempt to control his temper. "Why are you never here on time?"

"Why should I be on time when I can be fashionably late?"

"Eudora, there is nothing fashionable about being fashionably late," Bianca added so that her brother did not have to speak again.

"Then why is it called 'fashionably late' then, hmm?"

"Ow... my head..." Lina moaned from down on the floor. She had finally come to after her fainting episode. She looked over at Eudora again and shivered.

"Eudora-chan, could you please help me with something?" Bianca asked from over by the stove.

"I am not cooking!"

"Just start the fire please."

"Fine."

Eudora closed her eyes for a moment, afterwards snapping them open as if in a trance. Her eyes nearly seemed to be made of flames themselves as a miniature inferno erupted underneath Bianca's pot on the stove. After a few seconds, the flames died down until they were at exactly the size Bianca needed to heat up the oatmeal for everyone.

"Eudora-chan!" Bianca yelled. "That scared me!"

"Sorry kid," Eudora answered.

"How can you do that?" Gourry asked in awe. Lina and Amelia simply looked at Eudora wide-eyed and slightly unnerved while Zelgadis chose to just look with suspicion.

"Genetics are a wonderful thing," Eudora chuckled.

"Wow. I never knew that you even had an idea to what the word 'genetics' meant," Cullen said sardonically as he helped his sister get some bowls and spoons for the oatmeal.

"You're just jealous because my father had the power of the phoenix," Eudora laughed. Lina would have said something very mean at that moment, somewhere along the lines of: "Your mother should have never been allowed to procreate" or "What power of the friggin' phoenix? You mean she was able to get that steady of a boyfriend?" but a loud crashing noise from outside the door stopped her.

"I have bad news everyone!" Albert said, bursting into the kitchen. He was out of breath and looked as if he had just rammed his forehead into the stone wall of the hallway due to the nasty-looking cut on his hairline that sent blood streaming down his face.

"What is it Albert-kun?" Bianca asked sweetly as she went over to him with a rag to mop up the blood on his face. Her demeanor gave the impression that Albert appearing with bloody cuts on himself was a fairly average event to deal with.

"Koronus is not going to come to Seiryuun in order to travel back in time," Albert panted as he took the rag from Bianca and tended to his cut. "I guess he discovered that we were waiting for him, or something like that, and is now headed for Zefielia."

"Zefielia?" Lina asked, worry ringing in her voice.

"Yeah. We have to get there in six days, otherwise everything will be ruined!" Albert added.

"How do you know this?" Zelgadis asked.

"Albert is quite capable of discovering ways to infiltrate mazoku communications due to some elven blood in deep within his family," Cullen said. "The strain is thin from the human blood, but I think that communications infiltration might be the only thing he can do properly."

"I can do other stuff!" Albert said, his breathing nearly back to normal. "I will beat you in a sword fight any day!" Cullen's reaction to this threat was just an amused scoffing laugh.

"What source did you get this from?" Eudora said in a sing-song voice from her chair.

"Does it really matter?" Albert nastily snapped. "It will take us six days to arrive at Zefielia to begin with. We have to hurry!" He sat down in a chair next to Eudora and took a deep breath.

"Finally! A justice quest!" Amelia burst out, striking a pose of triumph. The bleak future had kindled her passion for justice tenfold and she was quite eager to join in. "When do we leave?"

"Right after breakfast!" Lina announced, noticing that the oatmeal was finished heating up. Mainly, she did not want to go home to where she grew up. There was no telling what could be there, or not there. It was a very good thing that the oatmeal was there to keep Lina's mind away from what could be waiting for them in Zefielia, for otherwise, she might not have made it through breakfast.

**80808080808080808**

It was noon and the Slayers gang was on the road with Albert, Bianca and Cullen, as well as Eudora. They just finished up their picnic lunch and had started down the road to Zefielia once again.

"I am amazed at how the forests stayed intact," Gourry marveled out loud as the eight walked down the path.

"Most of them died," Cullen replied. "The forests adjacent to Seiryuun and over by the coastal cities are the only ones that survived Koronus's rage."

"That is sad," Amelia said softly. "The forests were always so beautiful around this time of year."

"Well, well, isn't this a surprise," a familiar voice said from nowhere.

"Who's there?" Albert yelled out, drawing his sword. "Reveal yourself!"

"I cannot do that," the voice mocked.

"What purpose could you possibly have with the lot of us?" Lina spat.

"Now that, is a secret!"

"Show your face Xellos! We know you are there!" Lina yelled into the air. Sure enough, the mazoku general appeared out of nowhere, sitting on a high tree branch just a few meters down the road..

"Now what do we have here?" Xellos laughed. "Lina Inverse is alive and kicking. How many years has it been? Twenty? Yes, I believe it was twenty years since I last saw you. Since I saw you alive anyways..."

"Shut your mouth!" Gourry yelled angrily. Xellos laughed again.

"Come on now Gourry. You can't let me relish in the fact that I am having a visit with a nice, flat-chested reminder of the past?"

"_Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows_..." Lina began to chant.

"Eeeik! Lina-san!" Amelia panicked. "You'll blow us all to bits!"

"He called me flat-chested!" Lina snapped. Then, a thought randomly clicked in her brain. "What do you mean you last saw me _alive _twenty years ago?"

"Exactly that," Xellos said casually. "The last time I saw you and actually made verbal and eye contact was twenty years ago. After that, I watched you die."

Amelia and Bianca gasped at the same time. Lina was disgusted with Xellos had such pleasure in his voice. His attitude seemed very disturbing, even for the eccentric mazoku.

"I watched both you and the little princess die," Xellos continued with delight. "You both emitted delicious negativity up until your dying breaths. Never had I ever tasted such fury. It was a treat for the ages."

"So, do you have any other sort of business with us other than to upset?" Zelgadis asked spitefully, stepping in front of Amelia protectively.

"Like I said before, all I wanted was to visit some ghosts," Xellos chuckled. He scanned the party, soaking up their negative energies with glee. When his eyes came to discover Eudora and her little white dog however, her nearly fell out of the tree in shock. "You!"

"Yes?" Eudora replied innocently. The rest of the party was startled at Xellos's outcry, even Albert, Bianca and Cullen.

"I killed you!"

"Killed me...?"

"That's what I said!"

"I am alive though," Eudora protested.

"Then it must have been someone who looks an awful lot like you," Xellos pondered. "Is your name Naga?"

"I am Eudora, _daughter _of Naga."

"Ah, that explains it," Xellos said, coming to a conclusion. "Both of your parents were a pain to kill, let me tell you. After I finished off your mother, some guy who I had assumed to be her lover would not leave me alone until I killed him too..."

"Could he do this?" Eudora asked with a grin. She held out her right hand, palm out towards the mazoku, with her eyes closed tight. With the sudden snapping open of her eyes, a tornado of fire erupted from around Eudora's arm and surged towards Xellos. After the flames died down, the party could see that Xellos had just barely escaped a nasty scorching with a very strong magical barrier.

"Yes," he replied wearily. "I am afraid though, that you are much stronger than either of your parents. Eudora gave a screeching laugh as a proud reply.

"Why don't you just go away Xellos," Lina scoffed, having gathered herself. She continued to walk down the path as she had been before Xellos had appeared.

"Beware Lina Inverse," Xellos warned as Lina became aligned with the tree he was perched in. "There are many trials along this journey that could kill you. Is it worth it?"

"Of course it is worth it!" Amelia cried out, jumping up onto a nearby stump and pointing her finger at Xellos. "If traveling on this journey brings justice to the souls of the fallen men of Seiryuun, I do not care how perilous this journey is to become!"

"Amelia, please," Zelgadis moaned as Gourry pulled Amelia down from her speech-stump.

"As long as you all know the consequences I guess," Xellos sighed. "_Arrivederci_!" With that, he disappeared into thin air with a laugh.

"Idiot trickster priest," Lina muttered. She continued to walk down the forest path with her eyes lowered.

"Lina, are you sure about this?" Gourry asked. Lina looked back to see the swordsman with a worried expression on his face. Albert seemed to be worried as well.

"He could be lying to us," Albert said. "I have run into him before. His brain waves are particularly difficult to decipher."

"I did not even know that Xellos had a brain!" Lina laughed. She turned back around and continued walking, hoping that everyone else would follow.

_So he reads brain waves to figure out the mazoku plans_, Lina thought to herself. _I know it sounds crazy, but those four trouble me. They seem... oh I don't know. I simply feel as if I know them from somewhere else. Well, Eudora is an exact duplicate of her mother with fire powers, but Albert and those Ganymeade siblings, they are the ones I have to watch out for. They are the ones who appear to be hiding something from me and I plan to find out what it is!

* * *

_

**Review Reply**

Gerao-A: Yes, Cullen is a jerk and Eudora's dad is who AirJay thinks it is.

Galera: Update? Done.

Ashia C: Thanks for the compliment.

cyberimp6: Thank you for the input. I did have the whole danger thing on my mind. Plot advancement is for people who know where they are going with their stories. -winks- Still, the whole thing was more background than anything else.

Catgirl the Crazy: See? I updated.

* * *

**Things To Know**

Eudora: That is just such a weird name. I found it in one of my textbooks.

Elf Blood: No, not elf blood like Legolas. I wish elf blood like Legolas. I love Legolas. -rambles LOTR rubbish-

Zefielia: I think that is how Lina's homeland is spelled. If anyone has any objections, please give them. They would be wanted. I am incredibly left in the dark for a Slayers otaku. Just look at my spelling of Seiryuun.


	5. Go

**AM I REALLY THAT PREDICTABLE?**

(Wait, on second thought, don't answer that.)

So everyone has discovered my damned plot line. -sighs- I knew it would get predictable and that I would eventually go against something in the Slayers universe...

I say: Tough Sponge-Monkeys!

In this story: Amelia is brain-dead and amnesic, no one else can put two and two together (which is really sad due to how obvious everything is), the different last names is really what throws everyone and the fiction-ka has become desperate enough to revert to severe plot twists.

I do not own Slayers!

Thank you and good night! -takes her bow-

* * *

Go

It was nighttime and the party had come to a rest. They were all about a half a mile from the road that they had been following and had set up camp. There was a small fire going and most of the gang was near asleep from eating the stew that Bianca had made.

"That was great!" Lina said with great satisfaction. She looked over at Albert and Gourry as the swordsmen lay sleeping, passed out from their excessive amount of eating. "Looks as if Albert and Gourry had their fill, wouldn't you say?"

"I guess so," Bianca giggled. "That octopus Albert-kun eats more than twice my brother and I ever do."

"He and Gourry are two peas in a pod then," Zelgadis muttered sarcastically as he carefully sipped a mug of tea.

"Eudora-san was the one who scared me during dinner!" Amelia added. "She ate a lot too! Almost as much as Lina-san, Albert-san and Gourry-san did!"

"Don't sweat it Amelia," Lina laughed. She chuckled to herself for a little bit and then stopped. "Hey, did anyone see where Eudora went? Cullen's missing too."

"Oh, I saw Eudora-chan go into her tent and my brother is most likely scouting for something," Bianca sighed. "He is always paranoid during the nighttime."

"Sounds like someone else we know, huh Zel?" Lina chuckled, nudging the chimera in the side. Zelgadis just said nothing and took another sip of his tea. He knew that the best thing would to just take it and stay silent. There was already enough tension in the air over why they all were traveling. It would be the last thing they all needed if he decided to pick a fight with Lina and jeopardize the venture.

"Bianca-san," Amelia asked softly as Bianca sat down by the fire. "How long have you and your brother been traveling with Albert-san?"

"Forever," Bianca said with a faint smile on her face. "Albert-kun has been my best friend for longer than even my brother can remember. We have always been together, since his parents and my parents liked to travel with each other."

"Ah, childhood friends," Amelia said with a glassy twinkle in her eye, almost as if she found the concept... romantic.

"How long have you four been traveling together?" Bianca came back. Amelia snapped out of her fanciful state and looked at Bianca questioningly.

"Huh? Why?"

"You asked me how long Albert-kun has known my brother and me. How long have you known your friends?"

"Almost four years," Lina piped in after seeing the frozen look on Amelia's face. "...and whenever we go our separate ways, we all miss each other, don't we?"

"Miss me?" Zelgadis sardonically laughed. "With every fireball so far."

"Ha, ha, very funny," Lina snipped. She looked over at Gourry and Albert as they slept under a tree, peacefully dreaming about their oncoming breakfasts. Without even realizing it, Lina came to think about Albert's mismatched eyes. It immediately brought back memory of meeting the teen, as well as the Ganymeade siblings, for the first time.

"Bianca," Zelgadis asked as he put down his empty tea mug. "I have a question about your brother."

"S-Sure," Bianca answered, slightly startled and not sure about what it was the chimera wanted.

"Why is Cullen's face half stone?"

The whole camp fell silent. The only sounds heard were that of the fire popping, crickets, cicadas and snoring coming from the sleeping swordsmen.

"I-I-It was a spell," Bianca stuttered, her gaze creepily fixated on the fire. "Albert-kun and my brother were experimenting one day a few months ago and the spell went awry and changed their appearances. Now my brother's face is partially stone and Albert-kun has one green eye. They were like that when I found them."

"I see," Zelgadis murmured. "Do you know what type of spell they were attempting?"

"A... A... A..." Bianca barely whispered. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she tried to spit out the answer. "A..."

"Don't answer that," Lina said. She turned on Zelgadis and hissed at him. "Idoit! How was she supposed to know what those two were doing? For all she knows, they were trying to bring _us _here!"

_You do not know how do deal with a woman's feelings, do you?_ Lina thought to herself. _Damn Zelgadis. Tactics such as this are definitely not your forte._

"I am sorry," Zelgadis sighed with annoyance for Lina. He then immediately stood up and left the camp, leaving the girls to themselves. Maybe if he could find Cullen, he'd get more out of him...

**80808080808080808**

Later that night, Lina was laying down in her tent, not able to sleep. Maybe it was the food, maybe it was the conversation before bed, maybe it was the fact that they were traveling to Zefielia; yet whatever it was, it made her toss and turn and unable to rest.

_What was that?_ she thought as the sound of a twig snapping outside reached her ears. Lina silently opened the flap to her tent to see Albert at the edge of the woods, cursing himself for making the noise. He carefully checked to make sure that no one was watching him and then snuck off into the trees.

Instantly Lina became suspicious of Albert. He was sneaking off into the night, checking to make sure that no one was behind him, it really made Lina wonder. Soundlessly, Lina made her way over to Amelia's tent and poked her head inside.

"Psst.." Lina hissed. Amelia groggily sat up.

"Huh?" she said sleepily.

"Come with me," Lina whispered. The princess sleepily followed.

"What is the matter?" Amelia asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"I thought I saw Albert head into the woods," Lina whispered back. "I just assumed you wanted to come with me as I go and spy on him."

"Guess what: I don't."

Lina sighed as Amelia went back over to her tent, falling down in the process. She did not understand why the princess would not want to come along and spy with her. Some mysteries though, are better left unsolved.

It took Lina very little time to catch up with Albert. Using an invisibility spell and a Raywing, she floated silently along right behind him as he came upon a lake sparkling in the moonlight. Still invisible, Lina settled herself in a tree and prepared herself for whatever Albert had planned.

"Tu-whit," Albert called into the night. It seemed just like an average bird call to Lina.

_What in the world is he doing? _she wondered as the swordsman continued the call. _Does he want to attract all the water fowl withing a half-mile? Bianca is right to call him an octopus._

Suddenly, Lina heard a rustling from the bushes below her. As she looked down, there was a small squeak and a pale-cloaked figure stumbled out of the brush.

"Bianca," Albert said as he helped her up. "I need to talk to you."

"About what?" she protested, putting down her hood so that the moon reflected on her pale skin. "If Cullen finds us here, he'll kill you! He'll find you too! Him, or even my..."

"Like I care. Bianca, I..."

"I don't want to hear it Albert Orme!" Bianca snapped. "You would have better luck trying to seduce Eudora-chan than me! I fell for your flattery once already."

"Who ever said I wanted to seduce you?" Albert said with a slight laugh. "You and your imagination..."

"Shut up you damn octopus," Bianca huffed as she spun around and folded her arms.

"Make me."

"Do you even realize how much you get on my nerves? You're such an idiot!"

"Wasn't that what you said made you fall in love with me?" Albert said softly, wrapping his arms around Bianca's shoulders. Bianca made no move to brush him off, but gently touched his arms as he kissed her lightly on the cheek.

Lina looked down upon the scene, not really knowing what to think. She would definitely make Albert shut up and get his hands off of Bianca that instant if she was not supposed to be stealthy at the moment. Something deep inside Lina's gut made her want to smack Albert up the back of the head and scold him. She knew she wasn't one to talk about personal relationships, but this was ridiculous. They were supposed to be best friends, not the lovers she saw before her by the lake's sandy bank. Their talk disgusted Lina, making her want to leave this supposedly private scene.

"Albert-kun," Bianca said, just barely loud enough for Lina to hear.

"What is it?"

"What do you think will happen if we do not destroy Koronus?"

"I don't know. I guess we would just go on living like we are now."

"Living a lie to ourselves?"

"No. Together. No matter what happens, we have each other. Not to mention Cullen and..."

"You know as well as I do that I want to get far away from my brother!" Bianca cried, moving away from Albert's gentle embrace. "He hates the fact that we want to be together. We should just leave right now!"

"Then Koronus will win," Albert moaned. "We have to fight the mazoku with everyone else or our lives will not change. The only thing that would happen is that we could become erased from history and never have existed. Even one of us could vanish and the other fade away. That would be horrible. We can't abandon this mission."

"This sounds extremely rehearsed," Bianca said suspiciously.

"Of course," Albert said. "How else am I standing here talking to you without tripping over my own tongue? I have been thinking this conversation through for about three days already." His face turned red and he looked over towards the opposite side of the lake's edge.

"I had better leave now," Bianca said after a long moment of silence. She walked over to the trees and turned around to face Albert. "See you in the morning."

"In the morning," Albert replied sadly. With that, Bianca slipped into the trees, disappearing into the night once more.

_This is really strange_, Lina thought as she watched Bianca walk back towards camp. _Albert and Bianca being this close is almost unnatural since they act like best friends in front of everyone else. Furthermore..._

"Damn it!" Albert yelled as he picked up a stone and threw it at the calm lake water. His outburst disrupted Lina's thinking and startled her so much that she nearly fell from her perch. The stone Albert threw cut through the water's surface like a knife and once it vanished, Albert picked up another rock and threw it. This one went farther than its predecessor. Rock after rock went flying threw the air until the nearest stone object was a small boulder, not worth picking up and throwing into the small lake. Albert sat down on the sandy bank and rested up against the small boulder, staring up towards the inky night sky.

"Mom, Dad, I miss you," he said quietly. He closed his eyes and slipped calmly into a dream. It made Lina morose to think about what his parents must have been like and how it must have felt to loose them. Wanting to witness no more, she Raywinged until she was a safe distance away and then touched ground.

_I better keep my invisibility spell up_, she thought. Before she could even take a step though, Lina was frozen in place by the sudden sound of a voice.

"What are you doing out so late Lina?"

At first she thought it was Zelgadis, the voice deep and resonating. She turned around to see though that it was not her chimera friend, but Cullen.

_Damn it all, this guys is like a humanoid Zel-clone._

"Is it any of your business?"

"Yes, it is," Cullen said with a very bland tone to his voice. "My sister just got back to camp from the same direction you were coming from. Can you explain that?"

"I should not have to explain anything to you," Lina sneered. "How can you see me anyways?"

Cullen just smiled and pointed to his left eye: the eye that was set in stone. "I can see you, but just barely. If both my eyes were like this I could probably see more than the blurry outline I am getting now."

_That's creepy_, Lina thought. _I wonder if Zelgadis can do that too..._

"Just because you can see me when I'm invisible doesn't mean that I have to answer to you," Lina growled. She turned her back and went straight towards camp.

_Stupid Cullen. He really makes my skin crawl. I knew that there was something about him that I should watch out for_, Lina thought in disgust. _Damn guy is like stalker material. No wonder Bianca feared his presence when she was alone with Albert._

Lina came back to the camp and undid her invisibility spell. She looked around, finding that everything was as she had left it, all the way down to Gourry still passed out by the smoldering ashes from the campfire. Sensing the faint light of the new day coming, Lina sat down next to Gourry, leaned against a tree and closed her eyes so that she too could hopefully catch some sleep.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Where Did Eudora Go?: In her tent. She wasn't needed for this particular chapter, so instead of making her into an even worse filler, I shooed her off for now.

Four Years: Do I really know how long these guys have known one another? Like hell I don't! I am the most uninformed fiction-ka of all! I seriously need to get my mitts on the series and stop relying on fanfictions and fansites for my information. I really should know more about an anime before I write fanfiction on it.

The Scene By the Lake: Play Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" as well as Chopin's "Raindrops" while you read, if at all possible. It really adds to the whole mood. Sheer fluffy dribble-crap.

Cullen: Urgh. Now who wants to throw him in the lake? Show of hands!

Why Did It Take So Long To Update?: This is being turned into a back burner fiction. I am saddened with it an therefore the actual composition will take much longer per chapter than say... _Meganekko and the Chimera _or _Olympians At Heart_. I have another fiction that I have that I really want to get cracking on so that I stay on the schedule I set for myself. What's even worse about this whole situation is that I am almost forcing myself to write this. Nothing is worse than forcing yourself to write. I'm done bitching. Sorry. -goes off to force-write papers for school-


End file.
